Anyone who has taken a basic physics class knows Ethanol mixed fuel has a lower thermal efficiency compared to regular gasoline. That means mileage is lower, but the byproduct of exhaust is supposedly cleaner. It's all about reducing carbon byproducts in the air.
They are ratcheting up the amount of Ethanol to basically help/promote corn farmers who have overplanted and reducing the use of actual straight gasoline. Ethanol is cheaper, so fuel companies can profit more per gallon.
I wonder how long it will be before they eliminate non-ethanol fuel all together. It's already overpriced.
Some countries are producing E-85 from sugar beets and that is some really bad stuff.
Similar changes are happening with diesel and the "ultra-low sulfur" fuel to reduce emissions. Modern diesel fuel attracts more water than ever. Bio Diesel is even worse. Older mechanical injection systems are being killed off more every day.
Ethanol producers are laughing all the way to the bank because the federal government is paying farmers subsidies to produce surplus corn, and the Ethanol producers are buying the corn cheap. The producer then basically distills the corn into raw Ethanol and sells the product to the refiners to be mixed in with gasoline. On top of that, the raw waste from that Ethanol production is sold to cattle feed producers.Taking and remembering are two different things. The ones who annoy me think that replacing gas & Diesel is easy but know absolutely nothing about energy and why Ethanol is worse WRT fuel economy.
If Ethanol is cheaper, why do corn farmers need to be subsidized when they sell to biofuel production facilities? That needs to be added to the cost.
What makes Ethanol from Sugar Beets bad? Once it's distilled, is the Ethanol really different, or is it the waste?
This is the reason I made the comment about the man behind the screen.Ethanol producers are laughing all the way to the bank because the federal government is paying farmers subsidies to produce surplus corn, and the Ethanol producers are buying the corn cheap. The producer then basically distills the corn into raw Ethanol and sells the product to the refiners to be mixed in with gasoline. On top of that, the raw waste from that Ethanol production is sold to cattle feed producers.
Basically, the same thing happens with sugar beets. Some countries only offer E85 that is made from the sugar beet crops.